Fate/hollow ataraxia

Fate/hollow ataraxia (フェイト/ホロウアタラクシア, Feito/horou atarakushia?) is a visual novel game created by TYPE-MOON in 2005 which is the sequel to Fate/stay night. The word "ataraxia" in the title is a Greek term for "tranquility", giving the title the combined meaning of "empty (or false) tranquility".

Fate/hollow ataraxia differs from its predecessor in its gameplay and tone, favoring slice-of-life comedy scenes while retaining a dramatic core story. Like Fate/stay night, hollow ataraxia did not receive an official translation, but an unofficial patch was created by fans. A manga adaptation is under serialization.

Contents

The plot of Fate/hollow ataraxia is based 6 months after the events of Fate/stay night, taking place in Fuyuki City. The story, like Kagetsu Tohya, takes place in a dream world that reflects multiple timelines at once. It is a story that "encompasses the endings of all of the routes [of Fate/stay night], [while] not being any of them." It can be said not to follow any of the routes as a direct continuation, but rather act as a "counter" to the story of Fate/stay night itself. While "there is a setting about this happening after this route", it isn't that important and the player can interpret it either way. "Reopening" follows the ending of a "certain route" of Fate/stay night and the ending of Fate/hollow ataraxia. Even though hints towards the route exist, it is mainly left up to the readers' interpretation.[1][2] While the scene "Sequel" depicts the world outside of the loop, it is unknown to which timeline it belongs as Kinoko Nasu said "It’s best if you don’t think too much about it" when questioned about its place in the timeline.[3]

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Rider, Perseus, Stheno, EuryaleShirou converses with Rider, eventually leading to a conversation about her past. Her death at the hands of Perseus is narrated from his point of view, and she also reminisces of her final dream of her sisters right before her death.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Rin Tohsaka, Bazett Fraga McRemitzFollowing up on Shirou's unexplainable memories related to the four day loop, Rin comes to him with her ideas as to its origin. Before she can get too into the details, Bazett shows up looking for Kiritsugu Emiya due to him being the victor of the previous war. Bazett mistakes Rin for the Edelfelt she had fought, not yet understanding that her Holy Grail War is different from the Fifth Holy Grail War. Rin understands the dissonance, telling Bazett that the war has long since ended. Once Rin mentions Kirei Kotomine's name and death, Bazett has a mental breakdown, and upon Rin asking about what happened to her arm, Bazett runs away. By the end of the encounter, Rin has figured out the entire situation of the loop, but tells Shirou to solve it on his own.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Sakura MatouSakura consults Shirou as to what she should cook for dinner, and Shirou decides to help her prepare. They stumble upon numerous persimmons brought over by Taiga, and they decide to use them as ingredients.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Rider, Sakura MatouShirou finds rider stalking around the with the intention of taking Shirou's higher intensity bicycle. She attempts to convince him to let her use it, going as far as attempting seduction until Sakura arrives. Rider quickly passes it off as a joke and leaves Sakura misunderstanding the situation.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Saber, Taiga FujimuraWhile Saber quickly tries to change, she is unable to manage the swimsuit, so Shirou begs her to put something on for the moment. Shirou convinces her to don her armor, but they are interrupted by Taiga approaching. Shirou tries to stall her while Saber hides, but she is found out. Taiga thwarts any plan to divert her, so she eventually sees Saber's armor and simply believes it to be a costume.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Saber, Rider, Taiga Fujimura, Sakura MatouLooking for Saber, Shirou gets sidetracked by Rider asking him to fix the household bicycles and Taiga being mischievous. He later finds Saber in the dojo in her usual mediation.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Sakura MatouShirou searches for his missing school jacket, eventually ending up going to Sakura for assistance. He finds that she had taken it in order to fix a button, and the topic of conversation leads to her asking about giving away his second button at his upcoming graduation.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Illyasviel von Einzbern, Rider, Stheno, EuryaleRider asks Shirou to fix a bicycle, and while conversing talk about Rider's height and Shirou's wish to grow taller. Illya eventually interrupts them, jumping at Shirou, which brings about past trauma for Rider as she remembers her sisters. Rider's past with her sisters is elaborated upon, having gained a complex about her height from their constant insults.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Saber, Rin Tohsaka, Sakura Matou, RiderShirou meets with Saber, and she asks him about the subtleties of underwear due to Rin believing that Shirou would give her a "more satisfying answer." As they talk, Saber resolutely decides that she wishes for Shirou to choose some for her, which is embarrassingly overheard by Sakura and Rider.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Sakura MatouWhile cleaning Shirou's room, Sakura finds Rin's letter to Shirou from the Unlimited Blade Works route, threateningly ending with "If you don't come I will kill you go home", and she believes Rin is bullying Shirou. After clearing up the misunderstanding, they move on to cleaning the rest of the room, where Shirou finds tickets for the pool. He invites Sakura to go at a later date.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Taiga Fujimura, Illyasviel von Einzbern, Sakura Matou, Rin Tohsaka, Saber, Guinevere (Mentioned), Kirei Kotomine (Mentioned)Taiga brings up the topic of wishing to get married to everyone's surprise. Taiga becomes riled up as the conversation becomes about her flaws, resulting in Saber having to knock her out. As they continue to discuss marriage, Rin mentions Kirei having married couples in his duties as a priest. Saber then mentions her own wedding in her marriage to Guinevere and how it led to misfortune.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, RiderShirou finds Rider in the woods behind the school while she is waiting for Sakura to be done with school activities. Shirou tries to see if she would like to pursue an activity at the school so as not to need to linger away from Sakura.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Minori MitsuzuriMinori calls out to Shirou in the school, accosting him for lounging around in the Archery club despite being a former member. The topic eventually shifts to Sakura, Minori wondering about her hobbies.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Saber, Rin Tohsaka, Saber Alter, Merlin (Mentioned)Shirou tells Rin about events in Fuyuki while she was in London, eventually leading to talk about Saber's dragon element. As they think about any dragon traits Saber may possess, Rin brings up the idea of Saber having a Reverse Scale. Following this idea, Rin prods Shirou to try touching finding one on her, so Shirou attempts to find one until touching the strand of hair on her head and causing her to become defensive. She tells him about the importance of the hair and the battle with King Rience, ending with Merlin shaming the king and his brother Nero with embarrassing hair. As Saber forces Shirou to tell why he was touching her in the first place, she become enraged at him, while Rin takes the opportunity to touch the strand. The strand is pulled from Saber's head, causing her to turn into Saber Alter. Both Shirou and Rin are scared of the transformation, tending to Saber as requests fast food items unlike the regular Saber.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, RiderShirou, reading in Rider's room, gets into a conversation with Rider about Waku Waku Splash. Rider describes her time there and suggests that Shirou invite one of his love interests. Shirou suggests going with Rider, but she declines in thinking that the outcome would end badly. Rider says they may meet by coincidence at some point. Shirou questions how she can swim without either her glasses or Breaker Gorgon, but she decides to keep it a secret.

Characters: Shirou Emiya, Saber.Taiga FujimuraWhile Shirou and Saber clean the storehouse, they encounter Taiga and begin talking about how she has brought most of the items that are cluttering it. Saber finds a penguin-shaped shaved ice machine, becoming enchanted by its looks and the prospect of shaved ice.

A mage sent from the Mage's Association to fight the 5th War of the Holy Grail, born in Ireland, she is a descendant of an old mage family of an unusual bloodline. She is mentioned very briefly in Fate/stay night. The original Master of Lancer, she was betrayed by Kirei Kotomine and became the master of the Servant Avenger.

An assistant exorcist and member of the Church sent to Fuyuki City to replace Kotomine after his death and report the aftermath of the 5th Holy Grail War. She acts as the mediator for the false Grail War that results from the looping four days; because she was not involved, she is able to see the strange events occurring objectively. She is noted for having a rather bizarre personality. She is actually the daughter of Kotomine.

Within this installment, Shirou experiences unexpected changes in personality and momentary lapses in memory, particularly related to his own skills. In reality, it was Avenger, the eighth Servant, who took possession of Shirou's form during daytime and seperated this illusion of Shirou that it make when precise act as Servant of Bazett during nighttime.

In the first half of the game, Rin is in London. She returns in the second half with an apparently dramatic change in personality (specifically, a penchant for cosplaying as a miko or magical girls). However, she has also become an experienced mage, demonstrating this when she was the first to logically compose an explanation as to why time has been looping for four days and when she gives Shirou advice. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, she wields the Kaleidostick, another of Zelretch's inventions, which when activated, the Kaleidostick transfers knowledge from an alternate version of its user into its current wielder, in addition to providing an ample source of magical energy. However, the Kaleidostick dislikes its creator, and frequently manipulates its user into humiliating situations. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, the Kaleidostick is responsible for transforming Rin into the magical girl Kaleido-Ruby.

Unlike Fate/stay night, Fate/hollow ataraxia does not use a route-based system and its story is not linear. Instead, the player can choose among several scenes, some optional, and some unlocking the flags necessary for the story to progress. The game consists of four days played repeatedly, with the game ending and returning to the main menu at the end of the last day. However, flags are carried through: scenes already played will be marked as such and new scenes will unlock.

The player select the scenes from an aerial view of Fuyuki City and key locations. Each day is separated into morning, noon and night, each day and time of the day having their own scenes. Only one scene can be played for each time of the day, but the cyclical nature of the game and options to skip a day or part of a day means that it is possible to see all scenes in one sitting.

Several minigames can also be unlocked during the main game, and remain accessible through the Special section of the main menu:

The game also was ported to PlayStation Vita in 11/27/2014, and include full-voice acting, among other enhancements.[5] The contents of the Vita version is censored like Réalta Nua. It has announced that Ufotable will be animating the two openings intro. The featured songs to the PlayStation Vita Fate/hollow ataraxia are "broKen NIGHT", and "hollow WORLD", both performed by Aimer. The PlayStation vita edition has a new mini game called Capsule Servant, and a new version of Hanafuda game with the characters of Fate/Zero, Illya, Miyu, and Kuro of Prisma Illya, and the selectable servants (Archer, Saber, and Caster) of Fate/Extra.

The original PC version was released in 28 October 2005. It became one of the top selling visual novels of 2005.[6]

In 2013, A Fate/hollow ataraxia manga was illustrated by Medori and published by Kadokawa.

The PlayStation Vita edition was released in 27th November 2014. The Limited Edition Bonus has a Nendoroid petite figure of Avenger.

In 30 January 2014, TYPE-MOON announced they are releasing a special bundle on the 29th January 2015 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Fate franchise. The bundle comes with Fate/stay night, Fate/hollow ataraxia, Fate 10th Anniversary Art Book "Fate/Art Chronicle" and Fate/side material.

[v] TG Issue 4, 2005 - Interviewer: So really, “hollow” is the after story for which ending?

Interviewer: So really, “hollow” is the after story for which ending?
Takeuchi: It will feel like it encompasses the endings of all of the routes, but not being any of them.
Nasu: We mentioned it a little bit earlier, but “hollow” is set in Fuyuki city half a year after Fate/stay night. But despite that, the story’s starting from a situation where everyone, + some extra people and minus a certain character, is present and nobody thinks that’s unusual. While Shirou, the protagonist thinks this is weird, he can’t figure out what exactly is unusual. He’s in that kind of unstable situation, but he’s genuinely enjoying the “festivities” feeling that it’s great how everyone’s around.
And the story is going to progress like that, but slowly, they’re going to be getting involved in the reason why they’re in that strange situation, that is, the main story. A keen person might realize, “hey, this takes place after that route”, but we believe it should be left up to the user’s imagination.

[v] Toradayo 61, Jan 2006 - Interview: So, should it be best to think that Fate/hollow ataraxia isn’t a continuation of the Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heavens Feel arcs of the last game?

Interview: So, should it be best to think that Fate/hollow ataraxia isn’t a continuation of the Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heavens Feel arcs of the last game?
Takeuchi: Yes. It’s not really what happens after each route, but more of a “counter” to “Fate/stay night” itself…..is what feels more comfortable right now, I think. While there is a setting about this happening after this route, personally, I don’t think it’s that important. Basically, I think the player should interpret it however he wants.
Nasu: I personally wrote “Reunion”, the introductory portion of Fate/hollow ataraxia with the intention of it being the ending of a certain route in Fate/stay night and the ending of “hollow ataraxia”.

Souichirou Kuzuki [Person's name]
A teacher at the school which Shirou and gang enrolled. He taught social studies and ethics.
Kuzuki was the Master of Caster, but he was a regular man rather than a magus.
A mysterious man who suddenly appeared in Fuyuki City two years ago.
He was well-liked by the chief priest at the Ryuudou Temple and was granted residency in the temple.
He described himself as a "decayed killer", and true to his words, he did commit murder in the past.
Kuzuki's fighting technique was not something granted by Caster, but his own skills entirely.
Just like Caster appreciated Kuzuki, Kuzuki found something in Caster.
The reason which drove this husk of a man to fight, in a sense, was similar to that which drove Emiya Shirou.
He was a member of an assassination organization similar to the Nanayas in Tsukihime.
If there is a sequel, Kuzuki is number one on the list of characters I want to further explore.